XXXVIII.

PLENTY AND EASE OFTEN LEAD TO MORAL

POVERTY AND MISERY.

He

gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Ps. cvi. 15.

The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

PROV. 1. 32.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.? —Matt. xiii. 22.

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,
And that craves wary walking.

JULIUS CÆSAR. Act II. Scene 1.

Fat paunches have lean pates; and dainty bits
Make rich the ribs, but bank'rout quite the wits.

Love's LABOUR 's Lost. Act I. Scene 1.

Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds.

KING HENRY IV. (20 part). Act iv. Scene 1.

1 Numb. xi. 31-33.
2 Luke xxi. 31 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10; 2 Tim. iv. 10.

The path is smooth that leadeth unto danger.

POEMS.

The profit of excess
Is but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain,
That they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain.

POEMS.

XXXIX.

UNIVERSALITY OF GUILT,

In many things we offend all.—JAMES üi. 2.

There is no man which sinneth not.1

2 CHRON. vi. 36.

For there is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.2-ECCLES. vii. 20.

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand ?—Ps. cxxx. 3.

Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am

my

sin.:_PROV. xx, 9.

pure from

1

1 Kings viii. 46.

2 Rom. iii. 23.

3 1 John i. 8.

a

Who has a heart so pure,
But some uncleanly apprehensions
Keeps leets and lawdays, and in session sit
With meditations lawful.

OTHELLO. Act 111. Scene 3.

Use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping.–HAMLET. Act II, Scene 2.

Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun;
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud:
All men make faults.—POEMS.

Nobody but has his fault.
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

Act I, Scene 4.

Where's that palace, whereinto foul things
Sometimes intrude not.

OTHELLO. Act 111. Scene 3.

No perfection is so absolute,
That some impurity doth not pollute.--POEMS.

We all are men,
In our own natures frail : and capable
Of our flesh.

KING HENRY VIII. Act v. Scene 2. XL.

GOD'S FAVOURS EQUALLY DISTRIBUTED.

God is no respecter of persons. --Acts x. 34.

(He) accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.-JOB xxxiv. 19.

The king is but a man as I am ; the violet smells to him as it doth to me; the element shews to him as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions; his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man.

KING HENRY V. Act. iv. Scene 1.

The gods sent not
Corn to the rich men only.

CORIOLANUS.

Act 1. Scene 1.

Once or twice
I was about to speak; and tell him plainly
The selfsame sun, that shines upon

his court, Hides not his visage from our cottage, but Looks on alike.

XLI.

THE SAFETY OF A MIDDLE STATE.

Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me. —Prov. xxx. 8.

They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing. It is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean.

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

Act 1. Scene 2.

*

Full oft 't is seen Our mean

secures us; and our mere defects Prove our commodities.

KING LEAR. Act iy. Scene 1.

His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him;
For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found the blessedness of being little.

KING HENRY VIII.

Act iv. Scene 2.

1 1 Tim. vi. 6-10; Deut. xxxii. 15; James iv. 3 ; Hos. xiii. 6.

i. e., Our mediocrity.

*